NRC hears support for PSEG Nuclear's request for license extensions for its three reactors in Salem County

Staff photo by Paul LutesThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a hearing Wednesday at the Salem County Emergency Management headquarters Wednesday on PSEG Nuclear's request to extend the licenses of its three nuclear power plants in Lower Alloways Creek Township.

MANNINGTON TWP. — Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials heard messages of support from a wide cross-section of community leaders here Wednesday who endorsed PSEG Nuclear’s request to extend the operating life of its three nuclear reactors in Salem County.

But representatives from some environmental groups expressed their concerns about the effects on the aquatic life in the Delaware River and Bay where cooling water for the plants is drawn from.

Wednesday’s hearing was part of the federal review of the utility’s application to operate its three reactors on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek Township for 20 years additional years once the plants’ 40-year operating licenses expire.

Salem County Freeholder Julie Acton speaks Wednesday in favor of PSEG Nuclear's request to have the licenses of its three operating nuclear power plants extended for 20 more years.

“PSEG Nuclear has consistently and without hesitation demonstrated its commitment to safety and excellence through proper planning and transparency,” said Salem County Freeholder Julie Acton. “Furthermore, they have not only been a partner, but a leader in this county in the area of the conservation of our environment.”

The focus of Wednesday’s hearing was the draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the NRC staff in connection with the license extension request.

The NRC last fall gathered public input and has conducted numerous additional studies.

The preliminary conclusion reached so far by the NRC is: “The environmental impacts of license renewal for Hope Greek Generating Station and Salem Nuclear Generating Station are no so great as to make license renewal unreasonable.”

Salem Community College President Dr. Peter Contini said he also back’s PSEG Nuclear’s license-extension request.

Contini said when it comes to safety, PSEG “is not just looking to meet goals, but to exceed them.”

Acton and Contini and several others speaking here pointed to PSEG Nuclear’s impact on Salem County’s economy, both through the number of jobs the utility provides, but also for its charitable contributions to a community in need.

The utility has 1,500 full-time employees, purchases goods and services totaling more than $81 million from South Jersey businesses and pays more than $2 million in local property taxes.

In Salem County, where the unemployment rate is now near 12 percent, PSEG Nuclear’s presence has been vital, business leaders have said.

The possibility of the utility building a fourth or fifth reactor at Artificial Island is being supported by many who say such a major construction project will help lift the county out of its depressed state.

The NRC hearing Wednesday, held at the county’s Emergency Services Department headquarters here, was divided into two parts — one in the afternoon and one in the evening — to give the public ample opportunity to attend.

The NRC will accept public comments on the license-extension application until Dec. 17.

Once the NRC’s work is completed, its findings will be forwarded to the office of the director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation where a final decision — which could come next summer — will be made on the extension request.

While most speaking Wednesday solidly supported license extensions for the plants, some voiced opposition to the request.

Jane Nogaki, vice president of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said her group opposed the relicensing.

Among Nogaki’s main concerns was the impact the plants’ cooling systems have had on aquatic life in the Delaware River and Bay.

She said some 3 billion fish a year are killed by the drawing of water from the river and bay and circulating it through the plants to cool them.

Salem 1 and 2 draw in 3 billion gallons of water from the river and bay each day. Hope Creek’s draw is about 69 million gallons a day.

PSEG officials say this is less than 1 percent of the volume of water passing the Island.

Nogaki said the utility should be required to build cooling towers for Salem 1 and 2 (neighboring Hope Creek already has a cooling tower and “closed” cooling system).

PSEG Nuclear Spokesman Joe Delmar said many of those fish killed are so small they would not make it to adulthood and the utility’s Estuary Enhancement Program, the restoration of 20,000 acres of wetlands in New Jersey and Delaware, has helped mitigate the losses caused by the plants.

“We have used proven scientific methods accepted by the environmental and aquatic communities,” said Delmar.

So far in the U.S., out of the 104 operating nuclear reactors, 59 have received approval for operating license extensions, according to Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC. Currently 23 license extension requests, including those for PSEG Nuclear’s three plants, are under consideration.

While the environmental review moves forward, separately a safety review is under way by the NRC.

Some of the findings the NRC is focusing on includes the integrity of piping buried under reactor sites, containment building corrosion and spent fuel pool leakage — issues that have also been raised at other nuclear plants.

The utility is addressing the issues, according to Delmar.

“We have an extensive aging management program to address the current and longtime maintenance of the plants,” Delmar said.

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years, provided that NRC requirements are met.

The current operating licenses for the plants are set to expire as follows: Salem 1 – Aug. 13, 2016; Salem 2 – April 18, 2020; and Hope Creek – April 11, 2026.